"If It Don't Work Out"

Backdated, archival post

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I was listening to my recording of just the bass and organ from "If It Don't Work Out," and I kept thinking that it was "I'll Keep Trying" instead.  And then I realized why: both have sort of an alternating rhythm between the bass part and the piano part (although in "If It Don't Work Out," the bass part is also played on piano, at least during some sections).  I think it's something like the bass playing on the beat and the piano playing on the offbeats (electric piano in the case of "I'll Keep Trying").  Both songs are by Rod Argent who seems to use interesting rhythms like that a lot.  They were recorded only two weeks apart, too - "I'll Keep Trying" on 24 June 1965 (incidentally Colin's 20th birthday) and "If It Don't Work Out" on 8 July.

I transcribed the lyrics this morning, and the song has some really interesting line breaks.  At least as far as I've formatted it.  I went more by phrasing than rhyme scheme, which you could make a case for.  In any case there are some interesting phrasings.  Like, "When she loved me nothing in the world could touch her love, and now / The light of love has gone, can I return the joy she's dreaming of?"  The line break there clearly demonstrates that "now" something is different.

I'm not sure, but "the light of love" might be a reference to the Supremes' "When the Lovelight Starts Shining through His Eyes," which the Zombies did on the BBC (as "When the Lovelight Starts Shining through Her Eyes").  However, I've also found that phrase ("love light") in Herman's Hermits' "You Won't Be Leaving" and even "I'll Be Home for Christmas," so I'm hesitant to assert that it's from "When the Lovelight Starts Shining through His Eyes."  It's certainly possible, but it seems to be a more common phrase than I'd thought.  (Interestingly, they did "If It Don't Work Out" and "When the Lovelight Starts Shining through Her Eyes" for the same radio program - Saturday Club, recorded 20 September 1965 and broadcast 2 October.)

The line break in the second verse ("Will she still care for me the way she did before, will / She turn around and tell me she don't love me anymore") seems to have the singer/speaker stumble in his singing.  Like he runs out of breath in the middle of a sentence because of his insistent questioning and worry.

And the chorus has typical Zombie themes of crying and returning home:  "The tears that I cried in vain / Won't bring her home."  Dreaming, an-other common theme in their songs, is mentioned in two of the verses ("can I return the joy she's dreaming of?" and "the joys and pleasures that I'm dreaming of"), but I think they're more aspirational dreams than sleeping dreams.

Finally, if you listen closely to the beginning of the track as it appears on the third disc of Zombie Heaven, you can hear someone say, "Nice and driving, alright?"  I think it's Gus Dudgeon, the engineer, but I'm not certain.